Potential Floating and Fixed Concepts for Shallow Water Arctic Drilling

Copyright 2012, Offshore Technology Conference This paper was prepared for presentation at the Arctic Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, USA, 3-5 December 2012. This paper was selected for presentation by an ATC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Offshore Technology Conference, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of OTC copyright. Abstract The purpose of this paper is to introduce various offshore platform concepts that can be employed in ice infested waters, particularly shallow waters, depths varying from 65 ft to 500 ft. The paper illustrates five innovative platform concepts that for arctic drilling. The platforms are designed to operate in different water depths in different part of the arctic by accommodating the drilling structures and equipment on the deck. The emphasis is on the efficient of breaking, moving ice sheets around the structure and withholding the topside loads. Some of the platform concepts are fixed and others are developed from the floating solution and the technical details are presented in this paper. Introduction Arctic is one of the frontier regions with rich oil and gas resources that could be unlocked with innovative and reliable technology.